An Image of Death Read Online Free PDF Page A

down the hall. “Is Mac here?”
    He shook his head. “Debbie’s down with the flu, and one of the kids has an ear infection.”
    “Too bad.” I hoped my voice didn’t sound too insincere. It was better Mac wasn’t here; he wouldn’t approve of my plan. “Hank,” I said in my sweetest voice, “you think you could you do me a little favor?”
    “Depends what it is.”
    I headed into the master editing suite. A bank of monitors was built into the wall above a flat table. Another set of screens was attached to the back edge of the table. A keyboard plus two other instrument panels sat on top. Hank followed me in. A photo of a freckled, flame-haired young woman hung on the wall. Behind her was a view of the lake. She was smiling broadly.
    I dug out the tape from my bag. “Think you could dub this for me?”
    He pulled his hair into a ponytail with both hands. “What is it?”
    “Someone dropped this off at the house. I thought it would be a good idea to copy it before I hand it over to the police.”
    “Police?” From the way his hands dropped to his sides, you’d think the tape was contaminated with Ebola. “Ellie, I don’t know. Mac said—well, you know how he gets.”
    Mac was cautious. Always played by the rules. He had a right to be. “I understand.” I nodded. “I don’t want to put you in an awkward position. How about I call him?”
    Hank frowned. “I told him I wouldn’t bother him unless it was an emergency.”
    I shrugged. “It’s VHS. And it’s only about ten minutes.”
    He shifted. “What’s on it?”
    “I’d…I’d rather not say.”
    He cocked his head. “Ellie.…”
    “By the way,” I barreled on. “Do you think maybe you could dub it onto DVCAM? The picture is pretty lousy, and I’d like to play with it at some point. Not now, of course. And not here. But you know.…”
    “Ellie, before I digitize this, I need to know what’s on it.”
    I hesitated. “There’s no way to do it without looking?”
    ***
    While Hank was dubbing the tape, I dialed the police nonemergency number. “Dan O’Malley, please,” I said to the dispatcher.
    “Not here. He has the late shift this week. You want his voice mail?”
    “Sure.” I started. “No. Wait. Is…is Georgia Davis there?”
    “I think she just came in. Hold on.”
    Davis was the youth officer on the police force. I’d met her last fall when Rachel—and I—were having problems.
    I heard silence on the line, a few clicks, then a female voice. “Davis.”
    “Officer Davis, it’s Ellie Foreman, Rachel’s mother.”
    “Oh, sure. Hi. How’s Rachel doing? Nothing wrong, I hope?”
    “She’s running four miles a day and exercising like crazy. Field hockey.”
    She laughed. “There’s worse things.”
    “Tell me about it.”
    A pause followed, which I knew I was supposed to fill.
    “Officer Davis, er—an unusual package was delivered to my house last night.”
    “Oh?”
    “It was a videotape. VHS. Black and white.”
    “Yes?”
    “There was no label on it. No return address, either. Just my name.” I hesitated. “I took it inside and screened it.”
    “Uh-huh?”
    “I think it shows a woman being murdered.”
    ***
    When Hank handed me the copy of the tape, his eyes were burning. “I don’t want to know anything about this,” he said grimly. “In fact, I never want to see it again. I’m erasing it from the decks.”
    I nodded.
    “And that’s the last time I ever do you a favor, Ellie.”
    “I understand.”
    His voice softened. “Let the police deal with it. Stay away.”
    “That’s where I’m headed.”
    “Then why…why did you make a—” He cut himself off. “What are you going to do with this?”
    “Nothing.”
    He looked me up and down.
    “Really.”
    “Get out of here. And don’t you ever tell Mac what we did.”
    ***
    Georgia Davis met me in the lobby of the police station. She was in uniform, and her shoulder-length blond hair was tied back in a ponytail. With large brown eyes, a